Segrest farms

Okay been a while since I posted life has been a tad chaotic!!!! Anyways if I remember correctly there was someone here that actually worked at Segrest and was wondering if a particular fish they advertise in stock was really there before I go thru the hassle of having to order thru one of the chainstores here since none of the Ma & Pa stores order thru them. When I talked to the one store that's almost as bad for as going to the Wetspot he suggested to double and triple check in regards. So the fish I'm looking at getting is Aquidens Diademas

Segrest Farms We did get a small batch of them and they sold out very quickly...but chances are good we'll have some more in shortly. If we are able to get them they should be in towards the end of this coming week.

Fern could you answer a couple of questions for me; You work at Seagrest Farms , I have bought many molly species from them through, Petco and Petsmart, I think! Are they bred and raised there or are they imports? Also if they do raise them there, do you have any ideas what color varieties are bred together to make what hybrid color varieties? Thanks

No I just work at a lfs, I have them added on fb though and have talked to them quite a bit. They both breed and import I do know that. They may buy from other farms as well. They have a pretty darn good reputation and most fish that come through them do pretty well in QT

Mollys have never been my thing but someone on here may be able to answer your color questions We do have quite a few live bearer folks here!

rcbows wrote:Fern could you answer a couple of questions for me; You work at Seagrest Farms , I have bought many molly species from them through, Petco and Petsmart, I think! Are they bred and raised there or are they imports? Also if they do raise them there, do you have any ideas what color varieties are bred together to make what hybrid color varieties? Thanks

Segrest doesn't really raise fish, they get them from fish farmers. Think of it like a furniture wholesaler but with fish instead of furniture. They don't make the stuff they just sell it to the stores.

I am the one who worked at Segrest and as for the mollies most of them are imported. not local. And the guy running the facebook page is mike tucc. hes an ok guy. As for any one your trying to get fish from if there a chain store like petsmart or petco. your getting segrest fish. and if you ask them to order a fish for you they can once the order is made segrest will import it in asap. And just so every one knows im not promoting segrest nore am I knocking them. I no longer work there and have no plans of ever returning there. But as far a buisness goes they want to make money so they will take care of there dealers if one of them asks for something.

rcbows wrote:joefish72, Joe are there farms around here that raise mollies or are they imports? OH YEH! does anyone know anything about 5D's Tropicals?

There isn't that much money in mollies any more so most come as imports. Farms get about 15-25 cents per fish for most mollies so they aren't worth the effort.

I honestly select my fish from mom and pop type stores but chances are they come from segrest.

If I remember correct 5D is a major importer and sells to places like segrest. Nautilus may be the wholesale outlet for 5D but I don't remember for sure. I know Nautilus is an importer that sells wholesale to stores.

You won't find too much information about breeding and raising mollies any more. Most of that research was done in the 70's through 90's. Since the mollies are no longer big money makers there are only a select few in the hobby still working with them. I had my own strain a while back but it didn't make me any money and I dropped the line. Fern and Vixen got my last breeder male from that line.

I did find some outstanding fish on the east coast of Florida and I'm working on line breeding them. I got a trio of silver sailfin, a black fin orange sailfin with two orange albino females, and a pair of super chocolate sailfin.

Being in fl you can easily start your very own line, go catch a bunch of wild ones and breed them for quality's you like. Line breeding is one way to do it, father to daughter is pretty much line breeding. Or you can selectively breed siblings. With both methods you have to breed in some new genes from time to time or you end up with weak and deformed fish.

I almost did 'balloon' corys once...Got that defect a lot in my cory breeding.

5 D's Tropicals is in Plant City and they supply fish to Pet Supermarket only a mile from my home. I have talked to the driver and seen them delivering fish.

I have several strains of Molly's I am line breeding at this time. The best is Shortfin Panda Gold Dust Molly's, some are Black Gold Dust and I have Pure Gold Dust, I am line breeding them all. I also have Black Mollies, Marble Mollies, Orange-tailed Marble Mollies; I had some Silver Mollies but they didn't do so well (only one fry left, that I raised). I have had no luck with Sailfin Mollies, none of them have lived very long. I am interested in getting some wild P. sphenops,P. salvatoris or any of the wild shortfin species.

You should be able to get wild mollies in your canals and ditches. Get yourself a copy of the Florida Collecting Guide, I'm one of the contributors. It gives the locations and the species of fish you can collect here in Florida. Here is the link http://www.aka.org/sks/

Thanks Joe, I will acquire the book, but I am not physically able to go on a collection trip. I have caught wild specimens in the pond in my backyard, but it has a dock that I can walk out on, the only thing right now is its underwater and access to the pond is impossible without a boat. Wading is not an option because the pond is muddy and you just sink down. I caught my mosquito fish there and least Killifish, thats all. I know there are largemouth bass, crappie, sunfish, bluegills, golden shiners in the pond also. I am not interested in any of those species . I started with mollies and found that they were hybrids and know one can tell me much about them, so I want to move to the wild type mollies and wild type fish if I can. I will have to buy them from someone who has wild caught them, because of my disabilities. If you know of anyone I will gladly pay any reasonable price for them. I have been looking on Aquabid but I always get outbid. I am on a limited income and cannot afford the higher prices. I will be going to the TBAS auction in Nov. Unless I find something else first.